Every Extend Extra Review

Every Extend Extra marks the return of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the master behind some of the last few years’ most unconventional titles. The creator of Rez and Lumines is beloved by the specialist press and video game academics alike, and it is no surprise that his latest creation is one of the most unusual releases yet to grace the PSP. From its core mechanic through to its technicoloured visuals, it glistens with originality and style.

Initially a humble piece of online freeware by student developer Omega titled Every Extend, Mizuguchi’s reworking has already prompted plenty of discussion about exactly what it is and what it isn’t. A puzzler, musical experience and fast-paced tactical arcade game, it certainly does its best to avoid classification. One thing is clear though; stripped away to its bare bones it is a schmup. Like the genre leaders Radient Silvergun and Ikaruga, it demands the nimblest of thumb movements as you weave through a sea of swirling bullets and alien craft.

In essence the perspective is the same as the grandfather of schmups, Asteroids. As you float around the one-screen play area enemies drift into your field of view in various interlinked formations. The real difference here is that you can’t shoot anything. Instead you must blow yourself up next to an opponent, releasing a destructive chain reaction as explosions domino rally across the screen. At the heart of Every Extend Extra is a simple tactical balancing act of choosing when to hold back, letting your enemies slip by, and when to waste another precious life detonating a devastating chain that scatters across your PSP.

Enemy colouring indicates the power-up they will leave in the wake of their destruction. The most common of these bonuses is the Extend, which can be collected together to replace sacrificed lives. The second, and more important, is the Quicken, which increases the speed and quantity of the enemies pouring onto the screen. Collecting Quickens is vital to your survival and creates the huge chains that allow you to replace your dwindling stock of lives. Tackling some of the later levels is almost impossible without a well-stocked supply of these Quickens, which bring a frantic increase in pace to the gameplay, the music and the throbbing animations.

It is in this reworked version of the 2D shooter that the puzzle game lurks. Waiting for the right combination of enemies in the right place creates the feel of a Tetris clone savagely infected by the unremitting chaos of the schmup, and sadly for some this may be too much.

Veterans of the genre will be delighted that it pushes the difficulty level to the highs of the mighty Radient Silvergun series, but for the casual player the cliff face of a learning curve may only serve to frustrate. At the outset Every Extend Extra throws up a difficulty spike that requires infuriating levels of patience to overcome, and from then on in it is a demoralising climb that usually ends just short of the leaderboard. For a game that can be completed from beginning to end in around half-an-hour, it can literally take days to get just a few screens in.

Saintly patience is rewarded though, which is the whole point of the schmup. Once you crack the technique, which will happen with a little persistence, you can instantly access the infamous ‘zone’ that defines the genre. Thankfully, Every Extend Extra offers zone gaming just as it should be. It is chaotic, stressful, and strangely serene all at the same time, and offers a startlingly addictive depth of escapism that is usually associated with illegal substances, even if it only lasts for two minutes.

So far we have a brilliantly realised schmup re-invented as a fiendishly appealing puzzle game, but let’s not forget the impact that Mizuguchi’s involvement has on any title. Every Extend Extra has just the kind of audio-visual styling that will create chatterings of excitement in the ‘games are art’ camp, without sidelining the ordinary player, who should be equally thrilled by the bombardment of the senses that each play entails.

Combining the looks of Tron, old vector games and lurid club visuals, each of the seven levels has a distinct graphical skin. From the nightmarish carnival to the pastel meadow, the various themes all feel like a luminous shadow from the mighty Rez.

It is a little disappointing that the music isn’t as crucial to the game’s core mechanic as Lumines, but the audio is still beautifully integrated into the game. Every movement adds rhythmic sounds to whatever you are doing, from dashing for power-ups to entering your name in the hi-score table. Despite giving you very little control over this waltz of beeps and clicks, Every Extend Extra makes you feel like you’re a masterful composer.

Every Extend Extra certainly isn’t the ‘multimedia experience’ that Electroplankton aspired to be, and there is still a solid and engrossing game at the centre of Mizuguchi’s creation. Yet the hypnotic combination of swirling neon and pounding bass does take you to a wonderful place where few twitch games have ventured before.

For die-hard schmup fans the wait for the next Ikaruga is over, and for the slightly less sadomasochistic gamer Every Extend Extra offers a thrilling challenge perfectly suited to the train ride to work. It suffers all the faults that attract fans to the genre. It is short, basic and ferociously hard, and these are just some of the reasons it is assured a place in the schmup hall of fame.